The Good, the Bad, and the Binary

Is our tendency to divide the world into ‘good’ people and ‘bad’ people all that helpful?

The American president-elect is busy selecting his preferred appointees for his government, and the least we can say is that he is not shying away from controversy. What is intriguing is the polarization we see in the reactions to many proposed candidates: they are excellent for some, and terrible for others, with little or no middle ground. It is easy to attribute this to partisanship — Republican voters would unconditionally approve of anyone put forward, while Democrat voters would equally unconditionally repudiate them. But is it quite that simple?

It’s about the goals

Imagine you need to hire a tradesperson to do a job around your house. You might ask around among your neighbours and local friends, whether they can suggest a good decorator, plumber or electrician. Note the word “good” — we use it unambiguously, and indeed in a binary fashion. The people you ask for a recommendation will probably not even wonder what you mean by it — they will intuitively assume they know (and likely be right!).

Yet how they, and you, determine what makes a good tradesperson bears little resemblance to the analytical process by which organizations typically…